A girl, a giraffe and Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day

Up until a few weeks ago, "giraffe" and "Valentine's Day" would not have appeared in the same sentence for me, but Emma changed that. She came home from school talking about their upcoming Valentine's Day party and how there was going to be a competition with the Valentine's containers that the kids brought to school. 

I started giving her ideas:  

Me:  "Hey, why don't we make a little blue mailbox? Wouldn't that be cute??"

Emma: "No, I want to make a Giraffe. I asked my teacher how big it could be and she said as long as it fits through the door, it's o.k."

Me:  "But, a little blue mailbox would be so much easier." (I should know by now that this type of reasoning does not work with Emma.)

Emma:  "I'm doing a giraffe."

I made the mistake of starting with my best idea first, so when she shot it down, I had no where to go. At this point, I officially retired as helper on this project and Brian stepped in. Apparently he was on the same page with Emma when it came to how big this giraffe was going to be. I just kept saying, "If it were up to  me (and it clearly wasn't), it would be a cute little table top giraffe, if it has to be a giraffe." But, I was no longer part of this project, so my opinion carried little weight...none at all. 

The box for the body and the 1 gallon milk jug for the head determined the size. When Brian showed me the neck, I laughed.  I told him that this was beginning to remind me of the 500 lb. stairs that Allen O'Reilly (a great actor, but questionable stair builder) made in Theater Workshop class up at NAU...but, it was their project now and my opinion didn't matter (but I still couldn't help sharing it!). 

The only thing I had anything to do with was the tubes to keep the ears from completely flopping over. After the legs joined the body and the head was attached to the neck...

It started to take on a personality and I must admit that it was growing on me, even in all of it's hugeness and I started to think about the love wrapped up in the making of that giraffe: A girl had a vision and a dad, who loves the girl, helped her make her little (big) giraffe dream a reality.

But there was more work to be done. A giraffe needs spots and if the giraffe is going to hold valentines, then the spots better be hearts.

I tried helping with this part, but could clearly see that I was NOT wanted, so I left them. It was the best thing I could have done. Emma's friend, Maddie, was the perfect helper. They really didn't need me. I'm such a control freak sometimes that I would have interfered, for sure. 

I love how it turned out without me!

 Friday, the 11th, was the big day. The giraffe and valentines are ready to go.

 The Dream Team.

Remember how back in December we sold our suburban, which would have been the perfect giraffe transporter, but now, we only had a car big enough for my little table top giraffe. I started to wonder if we were ever going to get him in the car. Trunk was a no go. Back seat......uh, no. Last resort...

front seat with the seat reclined. Emma was a little squished in the back seat, but we had a giraffe who needed to get to school!

As we park in front of the school, I can feel her excitement mounting. The first stares...

Around the corner to Mrs. Brown's class.

I forgot to mention that the giraffe had a name: Ervin Griswald. Ervin found a place next to the pyramid of gold bars brought in by one of Emma's classmates.

Taylor gives us a Carol Marrol. I could tell by the enthusiastic responses that Emma got from her classmates and the teachers in her building that she had been talking about her giraffe for the past 3 weeks.

Some of the other fun valentine boxes. The kids were all so creative.

When I saw the box below, my heart swelled. I loved it and the image it created of the little boy who brought it in sitting at home gluing and coloring to make his wonderful treasure chest. So cute.

It was a good day.

Hope your Valentine's Day is sweet, too.

Baby, it's cold outside.

This was 8:30 this morning.

For anyone living where winter really means winter: thick parkas, snow boots, scrape the ice off the car windows, snow shovels, below freezing temperatures for weeks, months on end, this weather forecast probably looks heavenly. But for those of us who rarely see temperatures dip below 40, we're FREEZING here in Mesa! My feet are like blocks of ice dangling at the end of my legs. I use a heating pad and a blow dryer to warm up my bed at night before I climb in. In case this is beginning to sound like complaining, it's not. I'm just stating the facts. I reserve my weather complaints for summer.

We don't really own any winter clothes, because the window of opportunity to wear winter clothes is very small: A brief frigid dash to the car (heated) in the morning to drive to school (heated). By the time the afternoon rolls around, we're already done with the jacket. We don't even buy our kids jackets anymore. We have lost so many over the years, that it's not really worth it. But, every now and again, like this morning, it would be nice to own one. Emma pieced her winter wear together and left for school wearing a long sleeved shirt, my sweater, an over sized, old lady sweater lovingly made by Brian's talented Uncle Harold, two pairs of gloves (she was trying to squeeze on a 3rd pair when I finally said, "Enough!" and shooed her out the door), a scarf and hat. We'll see what she comes home with this afternoon. Adam wore long johns under his jeans. Might be time to head to the local Thrift store to try our luck at their selection. But... if we hold out for a few days, they'll be back to wearing t-shirts and shorts. Better wait. :-)

Emma and Hina (who was wearing more manageable layers), walking to the bus stop. 

Until warmer days...bundle up and make some hot chocolate. Stay warm!

Just Catching Up: Baking and Bouncing

O.k....I don't know if any of you do this, but I am so behind in blogging that I am going to take the liberty to back track. I just don't want to jump over things completely. First stop...the beginning of Christmas break. I started it on Dec. 18th and now I return to it: 

This is my favorite break of the year. The weather is beautiful (here in AZ). It feels like we have weeks ahead of us. Christmas is just around the corner. As I write this I can hear my cute little backyard neighbor boys playing in their backyard and I'm reminded of days of the past when my then little boys played all kinds of make believe games outside and made use of every minute of our warmish winter wonderland in sunny CA. At this moment the house is quiet. All the boys are scattered here and there, doing their own thing with friends or work or Brian. Thank goodness I still have Emma to remind me what childhood is all about. She embodies zest for life. Along with that zest comes personality. I walked into her room the other day and found the following note written on her chalkboard:

I only like one

 of the boys 

in this house 

and that is my dad!

A Bake Sale is a perfect fit for enterprising 9 year olds who are just itchin' to do something. They had the whole break ahead of them. It felt like summer with the potential for all kinds of fun. Emma had been wanting to make these jumbo cookies for days. Today was the perfect day.

The recipe was supposed to yield 8 cookies. I guess the word "jumbo" spoke to the little girls louder than the number 8. They decided to make ONE JUMBO cookie that ended up having to be baked in batches from the outside in due to it's expansive cookie mass. We would cut off the done parts and put the rest back in the oven until we finally reached the center. Eventually they ended up with a plate of uniquely shaped cookies. Crunchy but quite tasty, I must say. When it comes to cookies, looks aren't everything. The tablecloth was a homey touch.

I thought they would just go out to the corner of our cul-de-sac, but when I went to see how they were doing, I had to walk around 3 corners to find them! Not satisfied with the occasional passerby that our street offered, they took their product to a more populated location. Location is everything, you know. Here are some of the images from their very successful sale, thanks to generous friends and neighbors who patronized their little operation. 

I just love her velvety skin and the Nissen trademark ear.

Gain the trust of potential customers with honest advertising.

Matthew's turn to attract business...and it worked!

The thrill of the sale!

The day was still young. What's the best way to celebrate after a successful cookie sale and you've still got energy left to burn?
Close up shop,divvy up the profits and find the nearest trampoline.

I love it! The world is their oyster and the possibilities are endless.

Date Night & Emma

We look forward to Date Night all week. We usually go out on Friday night. We love to go to the movies. We have our Harkins cups so we only have to pay $1 for a drink. Date night is supposed to be a time for just the two of us to have some time to ourselves sans children. Well, modern technology has made that a little trickier. Brian and I saw "2012" last night. (I admit we were desperate to see something. It was either "2012" or the ever popular "New Moon". We may have been desperate, but no movie is worth a line for me and definitely not for Brian.) If you go in with low expectations (which we did) and don't take it too seriousy (which we didn't) it was pretty entertaining and the special effects were fun to watch. Before we left I gave instructions for Emma to be in bed by 9 p.m. I really didn't even care if it was 10 so long as everyone was happy. We called her at 8:45 p.m., just before the movie started and said goodnight and how we wouldn't be able to talk to her now since the movie was about to begin. "O.k.", she said. "I'm just going to finish watching my movie and then I'll go to bed.", she said. Twenty minutes later, we got our first phone call. It was less disturbing to answer the phone quietly than to climb over people to get out and talk. She has called in tears before, so we answered. It could've been an emergency...but it wasn't.

Us:  "Hello...Emma? Is everything o.k.?"  
Emma: "Hi! Watcha doin!?" 
Us:  "Emma, we can't talk to you right now. Bye." 


She called 6 or 7 more times. It may sound unfeeling, but I ignored them, knowing she was o.k. and just feeling chatty and she obviously was completely disregarding my 9 p.m. bedtime request from earlier in the evening. She called a last time right when we got into the car to drive home...it was 11:45 p.m.! She said, "Call me when you get to Gilbert Rd." I said, "O.k." Why not?? Why was she still up, anyhow?? I did call her at Gilbert Rd. and the 60. Adam answered and told me she was asleep, but the phone kind of woke her up. Oops.

She left us this note on the door.

She still loved us, even though we ignored her calls. It was nearly midnight when she finally fell asleep...with the lights still on in her room. Hey, it's hard work waiting up for mom and dad. She nearly made it.

Oh, Emma...our little Eveready Bunny.

I kissed her goodnight and turned off the light.

The next day (today) I explained to her that when it's our Date Night and we're in a movie, she can't call us all the time. Then it stops being a Date Night and it also disturbs the people around us. Phone calls are only for emergencies. She said, "Well, can I text you then?!" "Uh...No...not that either." We'll see how she does next week.

On the topic of dates: On Friday, Emma told me in the morning, "Sometimes when I'm in school, I miss Dad, so we're having our own date tomorrow...First, we're going to do my assigned room, then we're going to read scriptures, then write in our journals and then go to Q.T." This was Emma's plan for her date with her Dad. So this morning, after cleaning, Brian and Emma went on their little date, just the two of them and I didn't call or text them one time! Now that's a date!

"Fourth Grade...Here I Come!"

I'm a little behind with this, since our kids started school way back on August 12th, which I thought was crazy until August 12 and it felt o.k. Everyone was actually o.k. with being back in school. You can always tell when it's time. And without realizing it, it was time.

For the last 2 years I have been on Franklin's FPO. It's like the PTA at most schools. I was the Historian. As part of being on the board, I didn't have to wait in line to register to find out which teachers my kids got. This year, I had to wait in line. It all went smoothly. After signing up for my 2 committees, paying my fee, checking Emma's bus route, etc., I went to the final line to find out which teacher Emma would spending fourth grade with. All the registration stuff happened in the cafeteria. The teacher "Reveal" happened in the office. By this time I had been standing in line outside, and also signed a petition to let the kids wear knee length shorts to school (don't even get me started on this topic...it's my one biggest complaint about the school that I otherwise am very happy with). So with being hot and bothered, I was feeling a little grumbly by the time that I got to the Principal, who was handing out teacher assignments. She told me Emma was in Mrs. Griner's class and lo and behold, my Grumblies instantly went away and I felt like we had just won the grand prize, in fact I didn't care if the kids had to wear insulated snow suits year round! Mrs. Griner, really?? That is awesome! Ben had Mrs. Griner five years ago and ever since, I have wanted my kids to have her. She is great. She has that teacher "it" factor, if you know what I mean. She looks for ways to enrich and expand on what the school/district requires her to teach.

It was going to be a good year. I couldn't wait to go home and tell Emma.

On Meet The Teacher Day, we curled Emma's hair. She wore some of her new clothes and we headed down to Room 10 to meet her teacher, find her desk and the goodies that Mrs. Griner always has waiting for them. It was a bonus that some of her good friends were also in her class. Yay!! So, here we go:

I'm not sure that teachers realize how much it means to the students that the teacher likes them. Kids pick up on their vibe. Even in Jr. High, it makes a huge difference. Mrs. Griner sends off a good vibe. Can't you feel the love?!

Here's Emma's desk.

Guess how many fuzz balls are in the Jar?

Read the instructions on what to do next. I didn't know this was called a Venn diagram. I learned something new...and then promptly forgot it until I looked at this photo again!

Looking around the room.

The Job Chart.

Emma informed me that the person who is assigned "Door" as a job gets to hold the key and unlock the door!! Translation: That is a big deal!

Yay, McKenzie is in her class. LOVE those dimples, McKenzie! Seriously...I could eat a scoop of my favorite icecream(Breyer's Vanilla Bean) out of those awesome dimples!!

Oh, how Emma loves those babies!

Nothing like a brand new box of crayons!! So many possibilities...and no broken tips.

And so we are ready for another year at Franklin, even if they can't wear shorts!! I will not give up on that. Some things just aren't meant to stay the same.